Project Rollers - Take 6

I finally got back to it this past weekend and cranked out the last (almost the last) manufacturing processes for my rollers. The last step was to build the rail frame. The rails needed to be smooth, so every screw was countersunk to be flush when installed.

My, I'm glad to have a drill press!

Always the case, when I broke out the portable drill to screw everything together, the batteries were mostly dead. After a night's charge, everything went together quite well.

Checking fit, now that the skateboard axles have been trimmed...

Apply bungee chords to each end. These will centralize the rollers on the rails between lunges.

Here is the video of my first trial ride. (Please disregard my poor dismount...I don't know what I was thinking!) The rollers were much more forgiving on the free-floating frame. It may not be very apparent, but I stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, accelerate while sitting, and then stop and fall off. When the rollers were only on blocks, my entire concentration was dedicated to just staying upright. Standing would have been possible, but dangerous. These are going to be a sweet ride option when I don't feel like braving the weather!

Now I'm just doing some final touch-ups on this project. The rollers are currently disassembled to centralize the bearing spacers. I hope this will reduce some of the vibrations that I'm getting, but mostly this is to protect the bearings. I'm also going to remove some of the precipitates that accumulated on the drums in their previous life as sprinkler pipes. This should also help to remove some of the vibrations.

I'm eventually going to use a couple of these little contraptions:

...to provide adjustment to the front roller drum. I've got a few friends that want to try these out, and I highly doubt their bikes are the same length as mine. I'll be sure to share this process when it happens!